Yes, I have seen the trailer. No, I’m not impressed.
While I do question some of the critiques, many born from just past experience with Kurtzman “Trek” (for example the main cast is actually not as female dominant as I’ve seen claimed, but having seen Memory Alpha’s preview report as of this writing, and the trailer, I do agree with “pretty boy Klingon” and why the hell is there a female Jem’ Hadar when they’re a clone race that serves as the army for the Founders that never had a female because they don’t reproduce?), it’s those same experiences that make me apprehensive. No, I’m not fixing that run-on sentence. I’m not sure where to divide it to make sense. My apologies.
Anyway, not having Paramount Plus means I haven’t suffered through most of Kurtzman “Trek”. I did watch the pilot episode of Discovery on CBS, but I wasn’t impressed. Everything I’ve heard since has made me even less impressed not only about that show but the entire Kurtzman era. I wonder if that’s why I never went back for more Prodigy, either? So I have about as much interest in Kurtzman’s Starfleet Academy as I do the rest of his alternate universe. In other words, none.
Before this nonsense clogs up the wi-fi, however, I would push you towards a most likely better, but sadly all too short, better take. I haven’t read IDW’s version, but it’s set in the movie timeline so I don’t care. Instead we’re going back to 1996. For a time, Marvel had been coordinating with Paramount to form the imprint Paramount Comics. While not exclusively Star Trek based, the majority of its comics were Star Trek, the second time Marvel technically had the Star Trek licence before losing it to DC Comics for decades. The titles included:
- Star Trek Unlimited: For some reason the original series and The Next Generation shared a double-sized comic, with only one actual crossover between the two.
- Star Trek: Early Voyages: A better take on the Christopher Pike years aboard the Enterprise than anything I’ve seen or heard about Strange New Worlds.
- Plus miniseries like Untold Voyages, set between movies, a couple of one-shots, and separate ongoings for Deep Space Nine and Voyager. I wouldn’t expect them to share a title, but combining both TV Enterprises makes for questions in my comic box lineup.
And of course for this article, Starfleet Academy. Set during the 24th century, it was a way for Nog to remain part of the franchise when his character left Deep Space Nine to join Starfleet. I reviewed these comics during a “Yesterday’s” Comic re-read, but this is a full series overview, and why these are better to track down than anything Kurtzman is going to toss out, given his history with “Trek” branded shows that don’t feel like Star Trek.
